I hate to cook about as much as I love to eat. Well, hate might be a strong word. I guess it’s more like dread.

Things weren’t always this way. When I was fresh out of college and first living on my own, cooking was new and fun. Between colleagues, friends, and neighbors, I had an endless supply of people passing me their favorite recipes, explaining the dos and don’ts of the kitchen, and even coming over to supervise when necessary. They were excited to share their love of cooking with me and I, in turn, was an eager recipient.

Still, my culinary abilities never developed — the instinct just wasn’t there. If I wasn’t cooking by committee I wasn’t cooking at all. Which wasn’t a big deal when I lived in a big city, went to work in a big office, and interacted daily with my big group of friends. There was always someone around to help me. (And a takeout place on every corner.) But time passed and life changed. Big city: Moved. Big office: Quit. Big group of friends: Busy and scattered. 

For awhile, I abandoned cooking completely. But you can only eat so many meals of rotisserie chicken, takeout Chinese, and burritos before that home-cooking craving beckons. 

I needed back that safety net which cooking by committee provided — it gave me confidence in the kitchen and made up for my lack of culinary creativity. A shelf full of cookbooks couldn’t replace it. Neither could the most functional of online recipe finders. I needed more hand-holding than that. So I cleared a space for my laptop in the kitchen, searched the Web for cooking message boards and forums, and it’s been mostly smooth sailing ever since.

These days, Twing is the first ingredient in any recipe I use. Whatever I’m making — from birthday cakes to holiday dinners, a Twing search connects me to a world of folks who cook with confidence…and are happy to talk with me about it. Here are the kind of Twing searches I use. Whether you’re a born gourmet or share my lack of ability, there’s a place for your voice in the mix.

Birthday cakes

Summer grilling

Weight Watchers recipes

Salads

Crockpot cooking

Dinner party menus

Comfort foods

Cooking with kids

From our CEO, Val Zammit…

I wanted to share a Twing Experience.

Someone very close to me has been taking care of their aging Mother for a while. Recently their Mother’s health had declined. She is now experiencing a variety of issues and refusing to take her medicine. As you can imagine, this has created a significant amount of stress in the family.

Last night, I overheard my wife speaking to our friend about how difficult and depressing it has become taking care of her Mother. I decided to crank up Twing to read about aging parents i.e.other caring children that have the same challenges with their parents. I was amazed to find all of the discussions from ordinary people dealing with the same issue. I shared the Twing results with my wife and our friend. It was good for them pour through all the posts. They knew they were not alone and they came away with some great suggestions on how to deal with their mother and the stress they were feeling.

This experience turned out to be a perfect example on how valuable Twing could be in searching communities and forums. It is comforting for my wife and our friend to be in the company of people with similar interests and issues.

Val Zammit, CEO